 |
|
Home
Sitemap
Help
Media Library
Find a Partner
|
|
 |
|
|
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COMMUNITY TV TRUST HAS BEEN COMMISSIONED TO PRODUCE A DVD ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS. IT IS WORKING ON THIS WITH MCSAS-HEARTS OF LOVE.HERE, YOUNG WRITER AND RESEARCHER WORKING AS A VOLUNTEER IN SUPPORT OF THIS PROJECT, LUCY LEE SETS OUT IN HER FIRST OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES TO ESTABLISH THE TERRITORY. --- Woman, 19, dragged down Leeds alleyway and raped. Afghan mother and girl stoned and shot dead. Strangled Reading woman: man charged with murder. Candlelit vigil for SA shot bride. Ex-soldier jailed for rape and murder of mother and daughter. Man jailed for fire death girl murder. Described by Amnesty International as today’s ‘most pervasive human rights challenge,’ gender based violence has been systematic and in some areas institutionalised for millennia. Named in 1996 as a public health issue for the devastating impact it has on women and children, violence against women and girls permeates all sectors of British society, with 3 million women across the UK experiencing violence of some form every year. Almost half of the female population in England and Wales will be victims of domestic violence, rape or stalking in their lives, with violence against women in the UK draining a yearly £40 billion from the economy. Violence against women has been cited by the UN as both a cause and consequence of gender inequality, and serves to reinforce patriarchal structures which already subjugate females. It has vast implications for a victim’s mental, sexual and reproductive health, whilst long-term physical health issues such as backache, headaches and irritable bowel syndrome have been linked to violence and abuse. The overwhelming majority of violence against women is perpetrated by men, and most of these incidents involve men known to the victims. Every week two women in the UK are killed by a partner or former partner, constituting a third of all female murders. Last month Home secretary Theresa May stated that ending violence against women and girls was a priority for her and the Coalition government and last month announced the proposal of a disclosure scheme known as Clare’s Law, legislation under which women could be notified if new partners have a history of violence. This comes after two years of campaigning from the father of Clare Wood, who was strangled to death by ex-boyfriend George Appleton, a man with three previous convictions for stalking who had abducted another girlfriend at knifepoint. Although only 17% of victims of ‘stranger’ assaults are women, vulnerability instilled in females by the threat of stranger violence prevents women from participating fully in society: feminist commentator Elizabeth Stanko stated that ‘women’s lives rest upon a continuum of unsafety.’ This patriarchally constructed vulnerability facilitates a victim-blaming culture in which women must be perpetually aware of the potential for violence against them. This can be plainly seen in Eamonn Holmes’ recent and almighty gaffe on This Morning last month. He outraged viewers when he introduced 20-year-old rape survivor Hannah Cant with ‘She was on her way home from a night out with friends and was walking home; she didn’t take a taxi,’ a preposterous allusion that she enabled her own rape. He light-heartedly closed the interview with ‘I hope you take taxis now. Everywhere you go, coming home at night;’ which is a patronising and deeply offensive ‘I hope you’ve learnt your lesson now?’ A dialogue needs to be opened to explore the vast issue of gender based violence in contemporary society, if only to question some of the entrenched and misinformed beliefs mentioned above. In a collaborative project between Southwark Council, MCSAS-Hearts of Love and the Community TV Trust, a DVD is being made to investigate the consequences of violence against women and girls in Southwark, to be premiered at the Peckhamplex in Spring 2012. The DVD will invite female victims of violence to share their experiences and will be produced in a similar vein to those previously made by the Community TV Trust, which have covered topics as diverse as healthy eating, knife crime, Islam in Southwark and Travellers in Peckham. It will then be distributed to Southwark schools and other agencies supporting the work to raise awareness of gender based abuse. Over the next few weeks we will be further investigating the spectrum of violence against women and girls in South London; covering sexual assault and rape, violence within ethnic minority and LGBT communities and the devastating practice of female genital mutilation. If you have a story to share or would like to participate in the project then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Or, for those of you feeling social, join us on Twitter at @SouthwarkTV. If you are experiencing violence or abuse you may wish to contact Women’s Aid, National Centre for Domestic Violence or National Domestic Violence Helpline, but if you or your family are in immediate danger, always call 999. 24-hour National Domestic Violence Freephone Helpline 0808 2000 247 |
|
| 14/11/2011 | |